NURS 7061, FNP Practicum 1: your first preceptor and your first approval

What NURS 7061 covers, in YSU's words

The 2026-27 catalog opens the course description with one sentence: "Students apply foundational knowledge of MSN core and FNP specialty courses to promote health and begin to manage common acute and chronic conditions in a variety of settings." "Begin" is the word to notice: this is where you start acting as a provider, with a preceptor beside you.

The catalog prints no hour figure for the course. YSU's online FAQ lists 150 hours for each of the five FNP practicums, while another FAQ answer describes 180 practicum hours per 7-week term, so check your syllabus. Our FNP clinical hours guide shows how the figures add up.

Every hour must be in a primary care setting, and the graduate handbook bars pairing a practicum with a didactic course, so expect NURS 7061 to fill those seven weeks on its own.

Your first approval, step by step

1. Open the request at admissionYSU's FAQ says the clinical site and preceptor request should begin when you are admitted and can take many months. It describes three pages, a Student Preceptor Agreement plus a Clinical Site Request, filed through Medatrax; since the 2026-27 handbook makes Exxat the placement system, expect the current versions there.
2. Ask whether the site needs an affiliation agreementThe FAQ warns that a facility's agreement negotiations may not finish before the start date, leaving a student to find another site. A backup matters.
3. Submit your preceptor two months outPreceptor information is due two months before the practicum begins, and approval must come before clinicals start. With no preceptor 90 days out, notify the Graduate Clinical Coordinator.
4. Finish compliance 30 days outPer the handbook, each required compliance document must sit in Exxat a full 30 days ahead of the first clinical practicum. The list is on our compliance requirements page.
5. Get your badge photo inPracticum eligibility also depends on the YSU Graduate Nursing ID badge, mailed during your first didactic course once your photo is on the Y Card.
6. Clinical faculty decideClinical faculty approve sites and preceptors. Clinic days start once compliance clears and the approved preceptor agreement is in your file.

Picking the first preceptor and the first setting

The 2026-27 handbook lists who can be approved: nationally certified APRNs with a master's or doctorate, certified nurse-midwives, and licensed physicians (MD or DO). The older FAQ asks for an MSN at minimum and a year of experience, naming MD, NP or DO. A physician assistant cannot supervise this course under either source, because the FAQ bars PAs and the handbook opens its limited PA allowance only after you pass the first practicum. The details sit on preceptor requirements.

Our suggestion, not a YSU rule: choose a nurse practitioner or physician in an adult or family primary care practice with a steady daily run of the everyday acute and chronic visits the catalog describes. A first preceptor who explains decisions as they go is worth more than a famous name. That setting also starts the adult primary care block, the largest share of YSU's recommended mix, which our FNP hour mix guide lays out.

How the placement desk handles Practicum 1

YSU students choose us for the first practicum because it carries the most deadlines at once. We start from your admission term, find a primary care preceptor near home who fits NURS 7061, and check the practice against YSU's workplace limits, the approved preceptor list and the state you train in. You receive the preceptor's details ready for the Student Preceptor Agreement and Clinical Site Request, with the 90-day, two-month and 30-day marks on one calendar.

Since the second preceptor comes due almost as soon as the first term starts, your placement advisor runs both searches together, and remains on call for a replacement should a preceptor pull out. Request Practicum 1 help as early as your admission letter.